New Report: North Korean Hackers Stole Funds From South Korean Cryptocurrency Exchanges

New Report: North Korean Hackers
Stole Funds From South Korean Cryptocurrency Exchanges

US cybersecurity firm Recorded Future has released a new report linking Lazarus,

a North Korean hacking group, to various South Korean cryptocurrency exchange hacking attacks and security breaches. In a report entitled “North Korea Targeted South Korean Cryptocurrency Users and Exchange in Late 2017 Campaign,” the firm’s researchers stated that the same type of malware used in the Sony Pictures security breach and WannaCry ransomware attack was utilized to target Coinlink, a South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange.

“North Korean government actors, specifically Lazarus Group, continued to target South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges and users in late 2017, before Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech and subsequent North-South dialogue. The malware employed shared code with Destover malware, which was used against Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 and the first WannaCry victim in February 2017,” the report read.

$7 mln stolen from Bithumb

In February 2017, Bithumb, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the global market by daily trading volume, fell victim to a security breach that led to the loss of around $7 mln of user funds, mostly in Bitcoin and Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency Ether. The report released by Recorded Future noted that the $7 mln Bithumb security breach has been linked to North Korean hackers. Insikt Group researchers, a group of cybersecurity researchers that closely track the activities of North Korean hackers regularly, revealed that Lazarus Group, in particular, has used a wide range of tools from spear phishing attacks to malware distribution through communication platforms to gain access to cryptocurrency wallets and accounts.

Insikt Group researchers disclosed that Lazarus Group hackers initiated a massive malware campaign in the fall of 2017 and since then, North Korean hackers have focused on spreading malware by attaching files containing fraudulent software to gain access to individual devices. One method Lazarus Group employed was the distribution of Hangul Word Processor (HWP) files through email, the South Korea equivalent of Microsoft Word documents, with malware attached. If any cryptocurrency user downloads the malware, it autonomously installs itself and operates in the background, taking control of or manipulating data stored within the specific device.

“By 2017, North Korean actors had jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. The first known North Korean cryptocurrency operation occurred in February 2017, with the theft of $7 mln (at the time) in cryptocurrency from South Korean exchange Bithumb. By the end of 2017, several researchers had reported additional spear phishing campaigns against South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, numerous successful thefts, and even Bitcoin and Monero mining,” Insikt Group researchers wrote.

Motivation of North Korean hackers

Prior to the release of Recorded Future’s report, several other cybersecurity firms had accused North Korean hacking groups of targeting South Korean cryptocurrency trading platforms with sophisticated malware and phishing attack tools. Researchers at FireEye linked six targeted cyber attacks against South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges to state-financed hackers based in North Korea. Most recently, as Cointelegraph reported, police investigators and the Korea Internet and Security Agency initiated a full investigation into a security breach that led to the bankruptcy of YouBit, a South Korean cryptocurrency trading platform.

At the time, local investigators stated that they have found evidence to link the YouBit security breach to North Korean hackers. FireEye senior analyst Luke McNamara also told Bloomberg that similar tools widely utilized by North Korean hackers were employed in the YouBit hacking attack. “This an adversary that we have been watching become increasingly capable and also brazen in terms of the targets that they are willing to go after. This is really just one prong in a larger strategy that they seem to be employing since at least 2016, where they have been using capability that has been primarily used for espionage to actually steal funds.”

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Bitconnect Ponzi Scheme – No Sympathy From Crypto Community

Bitconnect Ponzi Scheme –
No Sympathy From Crypto Community

What looked too good to be true ended up being just that,

as Bitconnect has all but closed its doors. Long accused of being a Ponzi-scheme, Bitconnect shut down its cryptocurrency exchange and lending service this week. As stated on their website, Bitconnect had received cease and desist letters from two American securities regulators – leading to the closure of their lending and exchange platforms. Still, Bitconnect will continue to run its website and wallet service.

Sketchy ‘Ponzi’ offerings

Since its inception in January 2017, many were skeptical about Bitconnect services. In essence, one needed to send Bitconnect Bitcoin in exchange for Bitconnect Coin (BCC) on their exchange. Once you had BCC, you were guaranteed “up to 120 percent return per year.” Users were told they were earning interest by holding their coin “for helping maintain the security of the network.”

Lending platform

Bitconnect’s lending platform is what really led to accusations of a Ponzi scheme, as well as cease and desist orders from regulators. As the above illustration explains, users bought BCC with Bitcoin and then lent out their BCC on the Bitconnect lending software. Users would receive varying percentages of interest depending on the amount of BCC they had lent. Add in the referral system seen in many other Ponzi schemes and the fact that the operation was run anonymously; it's hardly surprising that this whole endeavor has ended in tears.

The lending scheme was the main draw card of Bitconnect because of its huge promise of returns. In order to participate in the scheme, you had to buy BCC – which saw the token hit an all-time high of $437.31 per BCC before it plummeted in value following the closure this week. That being said, the cryptocurrency is still alive and trading at around $35 at the time of writing.

Social media burns Bitconnect

Following Bitconnect’s closure, social media was abuzz with sentiments of ‘I told you so.’ TenX co-founder Julian Hosp highlighted the fact that BCC was still trading as

a real head-scratcher.

Everything that's wrong with crypto in one picture!
— Dr. Julian Hosp

Francis Pouliot shared a hilarious video of a Bitconnect meet which had been slightly

dubbed over.

People invested billions of dollars in this
(This video is actually hilarious recommended for memephiles)

— Francis Pouliot

American cartoonist Spike Trotman shared one of the most entertaining and eerily accurate predictions back in September 2017, postulating that Bitconnect was indeed a Ponzi scheme. Her latest tweet is a screenshot of the Bitconnect Reddit page, with subreddits for a suicide hotline as well as a massive legal action megathread. Do yourself a favor and take a look at Iron Spike’s full threat on Bitconnect –

it’s brilliant.

The current state of the Bitconnect subreddit is truly a thing to behold.

Rodolfo Novak shared a photo of the monumental collapse in price of Bitconnect from Coinmarketcap, highlight the moment the Ponzi scheme hits

‘exit time.’

This is what a real ponzi looks like at the scam exit time.

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Microsoft, Hyperledger, UN Join Blockchain Identity Initiative

Microsoft, Hyperledger, UN Join Blockchain Identity Initiative

Tech giant Microsoft and blockchain alliance Hyperledger have joined

blockchain-based digital identity initiative, the ID2020 Alliance. Announced during the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland yesterday, the alliance – which aid agency Mercy Corps and the U.N. International Computing Center have also just joined – aims to improve people's lives through provision of digital identities.

According to a press release, the group is developing solutions with a focus on user's direct ownership and control over their personal data using blockchain technology. At issue is the fact that over 1.1 billion people face not able to prove their identity, and thus struggle to access benefits and services. The situation also gives rise to more serious issues such as human trafficking, according to the World Bank. The initiative has now received a $1 million donation from Microsoft, as well as contributions from entities including Accenture and the Rockefeller Foundation. Accenture, one of the founding member of the initiative, announced a $1 million investment during the ID2020 Alliance summit last summer at New York.

David Treat, MD of the global blockchain practice at Accenture said:

"Decentralized, user-controlled digital identity holds the potential to unlock economic opportunity for refugees and others who are disadvantaged, while concurrently improving the lives of those simply trying to navigate cyberspace securely and privately."

The release explained that digital identity that is user-owned would include government-issued forms of legal identification and allow a seamless authentication process for people and institutions. "We are building an ecosystem of partners committed to working across national and institutional borders to address this challenge at scale," Dakota Gruener, the Executive Director of the ID2020 Alliance, noted. Last June, Microsoft and Accenture unveiled a blockchain prototype for ID2020, that is powered by a private version of the ethereum blockchain.

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Gold Market Mulling Blockchain for $200 Billion of Supply

Tech may prevent spread of conflict minerals, money laundering
Bullion joins commodities from oil to tomatoes in ledger push Gold Soars as Crypto Currencies Plunge.. Gold is going digital.

Blockchain technology may help keep track of the roughly $200 billion of the precious metal dug from remote mines, traded by middlemen and melted down by recyclers that’s sold each year to buyers scattered around the world. The London Bullion Market Association, which oversees the world’s biggest spot gold market, will seek proposals including the use of blockchain for tracing the origins of metal, partly to help prevent money laundering, terrorism funding and conflict minerals, according to Sakhila Mirza, an executive board director. “Blockchain cannot be ignored,” Mirza, also general counsel of the LBMA, said in an interview Monday. “Let’s understand how it can help us today, and address the risks that impact the precious metals market.”

Where Gold Ends Up

Jewelry and investment are the biggest sources of gold demand, followed by central banks.Markets in commodities from crude oil to diamonds and even tomatoes are looking at using the digital ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin — known to some as "digital gold" — to track ownership. Tracing gold supply is key to preventing metal that funds armed conflict from entering world markets, identifying owners and maintaining security from mine to vault.

The LBMA has pushed ahead with efforts to modernize a trade that until recent years relied on phone auctions to set a key benchmark price for the market. “For us, it’s a question of where the gold comes from,” Mirza said. The LBMA oversees a list of refiners approved to supply the London market. Its London Good Delivery List sets global standards for large gold and silver bars. The LBMA will also study tagging the metal and using other security features to ensure bars are exactly what they say they are, it said in a statement Tuesday.

“Everything that ends up in an LBMA good-delivery refiner needs to be tracked in the supply chain, regardless of whether it ends up as a large bar in a London vault, a kilo bar shipped to the Far East, or a coin owned by a collector,” Mirza said. “A lot has been done already but it’s still very paper-based. We now want to formalize it through an efficient and possibly technologically based solution.”

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Korean Crypto Exchange Korbit Halting Deposits from Non-Citizens

Korean Crypto Exchange Korbit Halting Deposits from Non-Citizens

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit has barred non-citizens from depositing local currency – the Korean won – on its platform. Korbit stated in an announcement that its virtual account service will be terminated this month in order to introduce accounts attached to users' identities, as recently ordered by local regulators in a move aimed to calm speculation in the crypto markets, as well as money laundering. As part of that shift, foreign nationals will no longer be able to deposit funds to their accounts.

The firm said:

"If you are not a Korean citizen, the KRW deposit to the domestic virtual currency exchange will be stopped when you switch to the new KRW deposit method in January. [This] applies to both domestic residents and non-residents."

Korbit added that foreigners will not be allowed to deposit Korean won "at any domestic cryptocurrency exchanges" when the new system is implemented. According to reports, the government has previously indicated it would ban non-resident foreigners and minors from trading cryptocurrencies. Early this month, South Korea announced it would begin implementing the new regulations banning anonymous cryptocurrency exchange accounts on or around Jan. 20.

The proposal essentially strengthens know-your-customer (KYC) rules already in existence for exchanges and banks, and will require cryptocurrency exchange users to connect a bank account with identifying information in order to deposit or withdraw funds. Last week, local financial authorities stated that cryptocurrency investors would face fines if they did not switch their virtual accounts to ones with identities attached.

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What Is Blockchain?

All of a sudden, blockchain is everywhere.

The technology, which was invented in 2008 to power Bitcoin when it launched a year later, is being used for everything from copyright protection to sexual consent (yes, really).Considering the daily churn of news around blockchain, not to mention the skyrocketing value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that rely on the technology, you may be wondering what the hell blockchain actually is. It’s actually a pretty simple concept, though things quickly get more complicated the harder you look. With that in mind, here are a few different ways to wrap your head around blockchain, from straightforward definitions to far-reaching metaphors.

How Does Blockchain Work?

To start, here’s the simplest explanation with no metaphors or hyperbole. In the language of cryptocurrency, a block is a record of new transactions (that could mean the location of cryptocurrency, or medical data, or even voting records). Once each block is completed it’s added to the chain, creating a chain of blocks: a blockchain. Because cryptocurrencies are encrypted, processing any transactions means solving complicated math problems (and these problems become more difficult over time as the blockchain grows). People who solve these equations are rewarded with cryptocurrency in a process called “mining.”

If you’ve always wanted to own some cryptocurrency, a new app might be a good way to get your hands.f you own any cryptocurrency, what you really have is the private key (basically just a long password) to its address on the blockchain. With this key you can withdraw currency to spend, but if you lose the key there’s no way to get your money back. Each account also has a public key, which lets other people send cryptocurrency to your account. Information on the blockchain is also publicly available. It’s decentralized, meaning it doesn’t rely on a single computer or server to function. So any transactions are instantly visible to everyone. That brings us to our first metaphor: the public ledger.

Blockchain Is Like a Public Ledger

If you send Bitcoin (or some other cryptocurrency) to a friend, or sell it, that information is publicly available on the blockchain. Other people may not know your identity, but they know exactly how much value has been transferred from one person to another. Many people see blockchain as an alternative to traditional banking. Instead of needing a bank or some other institution to verify the transfer of money, you can use blockchain and eliminate the middle man.

“The Internet of Value”

Building off the idea of a public ledger, another popular way to describe blockchain is as the internet of value. The idea is pretty simple: the internet made it possible to freely distribute data online, blockchain does the same thing for money. Instead of relying on newspapers, television and radio (which are mainly controlled by big corporations), the internet gives everyone a voice—for better or worse. Blockchain and cryptocurrency make it just as easy to transfer money across the world by bypassing traditional middlemen like banks and even governments.So you’re ready to buy some cryptocurrency. Maybe you’ve been reading up on blockchain technology…

Blockchain Is Like Google Docs

Here’s a clever metaphor for blockchain from William Mougayar, the author of The Business Blockchain: blockchain is like Google Docs. Before Google Docs, if you wanted to collaborate on a piece of writing with someone online you had to create a Microsoft Word document, send it to them, and then ask them to edit it. Then you had to wait until they made those changes, saved the document, and sent it back to you.

Google Docs fixed that by making it possible for multiple people to view and edit a document at the same time. However, most databases today still work like Microsoft Word: only one person can make changes at a time, locking everyone else out until their done. Blockchain fixes that by instantly updating any changes for everyone to see. For banking, that means that any money transfers are simultaneously verified on both ends. Blockchain could also be used in the legal business or architecture planning— really any business where people need to collaborate on documents.

Blockchain Is Like a Row of Safes

Here’s another useful explanation from online forum Bitcoin Talk. This one does a really good job of explaining how public and private

keys work:

Imagine there are a bunch of safes lined up in a giant room somewhere. Each safe has a number on it identifying it, and each safe has a slot that allows people to drop money into it. The safes are all made of bulletproof glass, so anybody can see how much is in any given safe, and anybody can put money in any safe. When you open a bitcoin account, you are given an empty safe and the key to that safe. You take note of which number is on your safe, and when somebody wants to send you money, you tell them which safe is yours, and they can go drop money in the slot.

After rising from under $1,000 to almost $20,000 in the past year, Bitcoin crashed spectacularly…

Blockchain Is Like DNA

Finally, this one, from Robin Chauhan on Medium, is a little far out, but I like it. Blockchain is a record of transactions, spreading across the internet as more people use cryptocurrencies. Similarly, DNA is a record of genetic transactions and mutations that spread as life expanded across the earth. Both become more complicated over time as our DNA evolves and new blocks are added to the blockchain.

Each blockchain (Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple) is like as a distinct species (human, chimpanzee, etc.). A blockchain can also be forked (like with Bitcoin Cash) to create a competing currency in the same way that two distinct species can share common ancestor. Of course, changes to DNA don’t happen easily—scientists believe it takes about a million years for a genetic mutation to catch on—and building a blockchain isn’t easy, either. The process of evolution and natural selection is a little bit like mining, a complicated series of steps that creates something incredible.

Chuck Reynolds

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New Debit Card Helps to Unlock Your Digital Currency

New Debit Card Helps to Unlock
Your Digital Currency

The common question you hear from any doubter of digital currencies

and their future in our world is “what is the use case?” Often, people look at Bitcoin and see its shortcomings as a medium of transfer, and use that as their justification for being short digital currencies. Spending Bitcoin or any other digital currency is not currently all that easy. It takes time to convert back into fiat currency, and there is often a large fee. A Singapore-based company Paycent aims to make it easier for buyers and sellers to use their digital currency. Right now they are in the process of releasing the integrated debit card which gives customers the capability to unlock their funds instantly.

Bridging the gap between fiat and digital currencies

The overall goal of the company is to make it possible for mobile and cashless payments to be accepted anywhere. Blockchain is the underlying technology that enables this advancement, and the team has worked hard to bridge the gap between fiat and digital currencies. The new Paycent integrated debit card is the key to bringing digital currencies into our day-to-day life. It has no yearly maintenance fees if the card is active and in use. You don’t need to hold a PYN token to get it. A user will pay only one time fees for card activation and delivery with any digital currency.

Pre-registration for the debit card has started on Jan. 15, and only 20,000 cards will be delivered in this first batch. The selling point for many of the early users of this card will be the low fee of 1.5 percent, paid in PYN tokens, which is much superior to the current transaction fees on most digital currencies. The hybrid wallet along with the debit card is planned to be live in the first week of March and it is currently available for registration on the Paycent website. Once operational, the card will work at more than 36 mln points in over 200 countries. Users will be able to convert any digital currency to fiat in real time basis and can use it via Paycent card at online and offline stores and cash withdrawal at ATMs globally.

More money and better transparency

Paycent has set themselves apart in a few ways. One is the manner in which they are conducting their ICO. Rather than releasing all of their tokens at once, the team at Paycent decided to release them in eight phases. The company says, there are two major benefits to this method. First, it helps the protocol by proving the concept along the way, which would then result in more money being earned. It also increases transparency and aligns incentives within the network better. Users are motivated to buy earlier by giving bonus Paycent tokens (PYN) of varying amounts to each phase.

The ICO commenced in November and has proven to be a success. Phase one of the ICO was successful, with 80 percent of tokens distributed to over 14,000 different contributors. Paycent’s end goal is to help users worldwide enter the cashless world. The true potential of a company like this comes from the fact it can create an infrastructure that users who have never had access to banks will be able to engage with. In this regard, it is an inspiring goal with limitless market potential. The original mission of Bitcoin was to create a new financial system that wasn’t dependent upon any single authority, and this might finally be possible with Paycent.

Chuck Reynolds

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Gaming Blockchain Platform Helps Investors Find Best Project to Invest in

The gaming industry is experiencing a significant boom

as emerging innovations are causing people to spend more time on gaming platforms especially with multiple gamers systems. These developments and attractions are playing important roles in placing the gaming industry as one of the most advanced markets, with revenue exceeding $116 bln in 2017.

The bigger stage is opening for the industry with the popularity of decentralized technologies. One of the first who saw the opportunity are the creators of Game Machine.The project can be described as a global open platform where gamers, investors and developers can work together, complement each other and help the whole industry to grow faster. While developing the project team considered all the parties. For gamers, they offer in-game items for their favorite titles. As for the developers, the system will provide them an opportunity to focus on the segments of their target audience, raise funds for products and start an ICO. Also, the valuable project search for investors was simplified. Briefly summarizing, Game Machine unites all the participants of the market.

Analytics for investors

Focusing on the investment opportunities within the industry, a new project Game Machine implements Blockchain technology through its Proof-of-Authority (or Proof-of-Gamer) protocol. One of the best advantages for investors is that Game Machine token holders will be able to sell their tokens to gamers and developers for a better price. They also will get a chance to choose only high-quality products to invest as they can see how many users are really interested in the projects which are located on the crowdfunding platform.

Other benefits that accrue to investors within the project includes the opportunity of being invited to the special club with exclusive big discounts and sales for the majority of crowd sales from crowdfunding platform. Top-tier investors will be able to get a part of all tokens, released by every project. Game Machine already boasts of a working product with more than 60,000 registrations, having more than 40,000 in-game items withdrawn and over 500 mln GMC tokens mined. Hence the release of the Open Beta version which was being focused upon by the Game Machine team for several months. The platform consists of a miner and a store of items for popular games such as CS:GO and Dota 2. Gamers all over the world are showing great interest.

App release and token sale

Game Machine team is focused on releasing its first version of the app for advertisers and also for investors. The mobile version of Game Machine Client for Android is already out and the iOS version is in development now and is scheduled for launch in March 2018. Further, we will see the team set up a product for exchanging tokens and also the creation of an API for the third party resources for the platform. As you see, the Game Machine team is planning a serious work during this year. Also, the project is looking for the developers to join the crowdfunding platform and already has some agreements.

In its currently active token sale which runs until Jan. 31 2018. After the end of the tokensale, Game Machine is going to release its tokens on three grand exchanges. On this very moment project has raised $1.5 mln. The main aim of the team is to take a big segment in the growing game industry market and to unite all the participants.

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Tom Lee Says BTC Will Hit $25,000 in 2018, Advises âAggressive’ Buying At Market Low

Tom Lee Says BTC Will Hit $25,000 in 2018, Advises ‘Aggressive’ Buying At Market Low

Co-founder and Fundstat strategist Tom Lee predicted

that Bitcoin (BTC) will hit $25,000 by the end of this year in an interview with CNBC today, Jan. 18. Lee had previously forecasted that BTC would only reach this mark by 2022. The Wall Street strategist told CNBC today that now by 2022 he sees BTC hitting the $125,000 mark. Lee’s predictions comes after a very volatile week in the crypto market, with BTC hitting below $10,000, dipping even lower than it did during the market crash Dec. 22. Just days before the December crash, Bitcoin had hit an all-time high over $20,000. Lee predicts that $9,000, or just below the lows seen this week, will be the price floor for BTC this year. He sees another market dip as an opportunity

for investors:

"We expect bitcoin's major low to be $9,000, and we would be aggressive buyers around that level […] We view this $9,000 as the biggest buying opportunity in 2018."

Lee also offered predictions for several altcoins, forecasting that Ethereum and Ethereum Classic would see about 90 percent growth by the end of the year, and NEO 50 percent. Today, the crypto market began its bounce back, with BTC up almost 15 percent and the top 20 altcoins up as much as 70 percent in the 24 hours to press time.

Bitcoin Backing Firms Feel

the Crypto Crash Pinch

With Bitcoin shedding 50 percent of its value in little under a month,

those firms who vocally rode the wave on the up are now feeling the terrify drop in terms of loss of their own market value. Companies such as Overstock, which has some of its fortunes locked up in the digital currency, as well as Square Payments, which announced plans to allow for some Bitcoin buying and selling, have been hit hard by this crash.

Taking a beating

While the numbers being tracked by these Bitcoin-backing firms are nothing compared to the actual losses being suffered by the cryptocurrencies, they are directly correlated. Square showed a loss of five percent or $90 mln, this week as the company which is led by Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey ended with a value of $15.1 bln. Overstock, a longtime supporter of Bitcoin going back to 2014, fell 11 percent ending with a value of $1.8 bln thanks to the roughly $200 mln loss. This latest drop in the crypto market has been put down to the uncertainty emanating from Korea with their apparent bank of cryptocurrencies on the cards. This pressure from regulators also adds teeth to the fears in dealing with cryptocurrencies in major firms.

Renaming regrets

There are also instances where companies who have tried to jump on the Bitcoin and Blockchain bandwagon have found that the wagon is currently in the shop for repairs. A number of firms have changed their focus, tact or simply their name, to profit from the hype and mania around cryptocurrencies. However, the other, ugly, side to this ecosystem is the violent volatility that needs to be stomached. Kodak, perhaps better known for their cameras, fell eight percent. The company has announced plans to offer a cryptocurrency known as KodakCoin at the end of the month, initially sending shares up 60 percent on the day of the announcement. Shares of Riot Blockchain, once a biotech firm dubbed Bioptix, shed 17 percent Tuesday, even shares of Long Blockchain, once Long Island Iced Tea, shed two percent.

Lessons up for grabs

While the future, as it always is, is uncertain for the crypto ecosystem, there are lessons to be learned in this latest Bitcoin ‘death.’ Bitcoin has been dead and buried countless times as its volatile nature is too much for some to take, sending them fleeing. However, it has shown stronger and stronger resistance and ability to bounce back over the years and the crashes. Something that companies that are facing unprecedented dips will need to be aware of. Bitcoin believer Max Keiser explains these movements in a graph he tweeted.. This pattern will repeat all the way to Bitcoin $100,000 and beyond..

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Cryptocurrencies Are Doomed to Fail, But There’s Money to be Made, Says an Investor Officer

The traditional diversified portfolio of investments

will have a host of assets in varying risk brackets, but for a traditional investment, officer cryptocurrencies could seem too speculative to be part of any portfolio with a wealth preservation focus. The caveat is that while not all cryptocurrencies are guaranteed to stick around forever, there are still profits to be made by a savvy investor that chooses a long term winner early on.

Money to be made

An investment officer from Credo Wealth, Deon Gouws, is personally interested in digital currencies, but as chief investment officer for a traditional financial institution, is understandably nervous.

He says:

"Most cryptocurrencies we see launching today are likely to fail, but there’s still a lot of money to be made if you can identify the long-term winners successfully and early.”

Mike Novogratz, a well-known investor who has been bullish on Bitcoin for some time now, has made statements indicating agreement. He has called the asset a bubble, but one where there is money to be made.

Novogratz said:

“This is going to be the largest bubble of our lifetimes. Prices are going to get way ahead of where they should be. You can make a whole lot of money on the way up, and we plan on it.”

Technology over profiteering

As the cryptocurrency space has evolved, prices have risen astronomically with the influx of interest from the mainstream market. Those who have joined the space in recent times have seen the likes of Bitcoin build to as high as $20,000. However, those who have joined this space in their droves have clearly done for the profiteering that has taken place, and the promise of more to come. This then means that there is more of a diluted core of users who are in it to see the technology thrive and flourish.

In turn, this not only adds to the speculative nature of the market but also to the bubble-nature that Novogratz refers to. The entire crypto space may not be as prone to a big collapse, or a catastrophic failure like some flimsy ICOs, but there are still concerns for those looking for pure profit.

Bubble territory

The real issue in the market being flooded with people in it to make a quick buck is that the potentially revolutionary technology can be pushed towards bubble technology. It is not the product that is prone to being in a bubble. It is the way in which it is used or perceived that leads to bubbles being formed and popped. The dot-com bubble has shown a lot of similarities to Bitcoin’s rapid growth, but that does not mean dot-com businesses or digital businesses, are always going to be bubbles. And the same applies to Bitcoin.

In the dot-com boom, people were entering the market to make money, and they were throwing money at anything with .com on the end. It is happening today too, with Bitcoin and Blockchain, but that does not mean a bubble is a definite. If people continue to flood the cryptocurrency market intent on only making money off it, rather than appreciating it as a new wave of technology, then Gouws’ opinion may be spot on. People will enter have a direct say in which way something like this moves, with their speculative investing. There needs to be a concerted push to appreciate the technology, and adopt it for mainstream uses if Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, are to be a long term success.

Chuck Reynolds

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